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Editorial

Kids safety improved with bus law policing

If motorists in the Marquette area are entertaining thoughts of passing that stopped school bus up ahead, the one with the blinking stop lights on it and the children around it, and the manifest danger of such activity isn’t enough to dissuade them, here’s another reason. A uniformed law enforcement officer might just be on the bus, someone who will take down your license number and vehicle description and write you a rather expensive ticket. “We’re trying to get the word out so people know that if they do it, there’s a good chance there could be a deputy on the bus ...

Students wake up to business experience

A lot of people need their cup of coffee in the morning. News flash: High schoolers are people too. A student-run coffee shop called Wake U.P. operates in conjunction with Christine Columb’s marketing class at Marquette Senior High School. Located on the second floor, the shop is open about 30 minutes before the first bell Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Although not every student involved in the project has aspirations of being a barista, the coffee shop gives them an opportunity for hands-on business experience. About six students, including a student manager, work a shift. ...

Prevent house fires by taking precautions

We hope readers were paying attention to comments from a pair of veteran area firefighters in a recent story. Negaunee Township Fire Chief Jeff Kontio observed that the cold weather months, especially those that fall within the traditional holiday season, are the worst for fires. Not surprisingly, space heaters are among the chief causes of fires. In neighboring Ishpeming, Fire Chief Ed Anderson said candles remain a chief cause of fires. “Be very wary of candles,” Anderson said for the Journal story. “Candle fire is one of the main causes of fires any time of year, but ...

Snyder needs to veto lame duck evils

We have lost count of the atrocities perpetrated in the current lame duck session of our state Legislature. Our lawmakers unseemly behavior can only further damage the public’s confidence in our state government, which is already the least accountable and least transparent in the nation. They not only lack a basic understanding of democracy, they apparently slept through every civics and history lesson of their school careers. Let’s begin with the checks and balances that are supposed to be the foundations of our three-part form of government. Republican lawmakers, dissatisfied ...

Deer disease monitoring vital to economy

Chronic wasting disease isn’t something to be taken lightly, and we’re glad to see the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and hunters throughout the state have wisely turned their attention toward it. Back in October, a white-tailed deer tested positive for the deadly disease in Waucedah Township, at the southeast end of Dickinson County. It was the first to be discovered in the Upper Peninsula, and was found about 4 miles from the border with Wisconsin, where CWD has been detected in about 55 of the state’s 72 counties. So far this year, about 22,000 deer have been ...

Lesson learned: Paving paradise causes flooding

It used to be when a city like Houghton gave a break to a gigantic corporation like Meijer to reduce a development’s required parking by nearly half, it was a case of corporate welfare. Not any more, because things in this era of climate change are not what they seem. The recent action by the Houghton Planning Commission to require less parking for the proposed Meijer store is all about one of the many hard lessons learned from the June 17 flash flood, which not only devastated roads and property across the Copper Country, but it also claimed one life. The storm was unprecedented ...